LEGISLATIVE LAWYERS ASK SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW RIVERS ASSEMBLY JUDGEMENT
LEGISLATIVE LAWYERS ASK SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW RIVERS JUDGEMENT The protracted political crisis in Rivers State took another twist on Thursday as the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, asked the Supreme Court to review its February 28, 2025, judgment that restored 27 members of the State Assembly, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule. The Supreme Court, in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, also ordered Governor Sim Fubara to re-present the state’s 2025 budget to the Amaewhule-led Assembly. The apex court, in the same vein, stopped the payment of allocations from the Federation Account to the Rivers State Government. It ruled that funds would be released to Fubara’s government only when a lawful Appropriation Law is enacted by the Assembly led by Amaewhule. The budget had earlier been passed into law after Fubara presented it to the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led three-man faction of the Assembly. However, ALDRAP, an association of professional legislative lawyers, is asking the Supreme Court to review the judgment, which was seen by many as a final resolution of key issues involved in the Rivers political crisis. The legislative lawyers made the request for a review of the judgment in a letter dated March 13, 2025, and addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN. According to the letter signed by ALDRAP’s lawyer, Kenneth Amadi, the request is based on the provisions of Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2024. Among other contentions, the lawyers argued that the February 28 Supreme Court judgment did not comply with previous apex court verdicts on similar cases. The letter is titled “Application for Review by a Full Panel of Seven Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Dated February 28, 2025, Delivered by Hon. Justice Emmanuel Agim, JSC, and a Panel of Five Justices, Pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16, Supreme Court Rules, 2024, and Other Relevant Laws as the Supreme Court Deems Appropriate.” Parts of the letter read: “By way of introduction, my name is Kenneth A. Amadi, Esq. I am a legal practitioner and lawyer to the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP), which is a professional association of lawyers in Nigeria with its national secretariat inside the National Assembly complex, Abuja. “We write to request permission to submit an application on the above-named subject matter. This application for a review of the Supreme Court judgment of February 28, 2025, is made in accordance with the Supreme Court of Nigeria Rules, 2024, on the following grounds: “A full panel of seven judges instead of the five judges that sat on the Rivers State House of Assembly case. *”Failure of the panel of judges to follow and comply with the former judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, such as the case of Attorney-General of Bendel State v. Attorney-General of the Federation (1981).” In an analysis of the verdict, the Executive Secretary of ALDRAP, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, faulted the Supreme Court judgment for failing to take note of the record of proceedings of the Rivers State House of Assembly concerning the defection of the 27 lawmakers. Citing a court case, Hon. J. I. Ekpenkhio v. Hon. Matthew Egbadon (1962-2001)1 Legislative Law Reports of Nigeria (LLRN) pages 307 to 336, Jaja said: “The Supreme Court of Nigeria held that the Court has a duty to take judicial notice of the record of proceedings of the House of Assembly as stipulated under Section 73 of the Evidence Act. “In accordance with the above-named judgment, it is reasonable to expect that the Supreme Court of Nigeria would consider the words and actions of Amaewhule and the 26 others on the floor of the Rivers State House of…